Attack submarines

After the rise of nuclear-powered strategic submarines, it seemed that only other nuclear submarines would be able to maneuver in three dimensions and remain in contact long enough to destroy them. Surface ships were clearly handicapped because their sonars could not operate as freely as those of a submarine. That situation changed somewhat when surface warships began to tow passive sonar arrays at submarine-like depths and when ship- or helicopter-launched homing torpedoes acquired a fair chance of holding and killing their targets. Both submarines and surface ships, therefore, became effective antisubmarine weapons, but only submarines could operate near an enemy’s bases, where hostile submarines would be easier to find, and only they could lie in ambush with little chance of being detected. For these reasons it was inevitable that navies with nuclear-powered strategic submarines would also build nuclear-powered attack submarines.

Almost all modern nuclear attack submarines are capable of two basic functions: to attack enemy surface ships and to destroy enemy submarines. To these basic functions some have added other roles, the most important one being the ability to strike enemy installations on land. Other roles, also important in post-Cold War submarine navies, are minelaying, electronic intelligence gathering, and special operations support. A good example of this trend is four generations of U.S. nuclear attack submarines that spanned the Cold War and post-Cold War eras: the Sturgeon class, 37 vessels commissioned between 1967 and 1975; the Los Angeles class, 51 vessels commissioned between 1976 and 1996; the Seawolf class, 3 boats commissioned between 1997 and 2005; and the Virginia class, 18 projected vessels, of which the first was commissioned in 2004. The Sturgeon and Los Angeles submarines, designed at the height of the Cold War, originally carried not only conventional torpedoes for antisubmarine warfare but also rocket-launched nuclear depth bombs, known as SUBROCs. The Seawolf submarines, also Cold War designs (though commissioned after the collapse of the Soviet Union), were dedicated "sub hunters," capable of maintaining high speeds while making little sound and diving to exceptional depths. Too expensive to be justified since the end of the Cold War, they have been succeeded by the Virginia vessels, which are intended to serve a number of roles near shore as well as in midocean. All U.S. attack submarines are armed with conventional torpedoes as well as underwater-launched Harpoon missiles for attacking surface ships from as far away as 70 nautical miles (130 km). Since the 1980s they have been fitted with Tomahawk cruise missiles, which can be programmed to strike ships 250 nautical miles (450 km) away or, in a strategic variant, to hit land targets with a nuclear warhead at ranges up to 1,300 nautical miles (2,500 km) with either a conventional or a nuclear warhead. In addition, many submarines have been either designed or retrofitted with special compartments or pods for launching and retrieving special operations personnel.

The Soviets tended to divide their attack submarines between antisubmarine and cruise-missile duties. The most prominent submarine-hunting vessels were of the three Victor classes. The Victor I vessels, which entered service beginning in 1968, introduced the "tear-drop" hull configuration to the underwater Soviet navy. These and the 6,000-ton Victor II and III classes of the following decades were fitted with rocket-launched torpedoes or nuclear depth bombs, giving them a battle range extending to 50 nautical miles (90 km). Beginning in 1971, the SS-N-7 Starbright cruise missile, which could be launched underwater and could strike ships 35 nautical miles (65 km) away, was deployed in Soviet Charlie-class submarines. The SS-N-7 began a series of dive-launched antiship cruise missiles of increasing range, culminating in the SS-N-19 Shipwreck, a supersonic missile that could carry a nuclear warhead 340 nautical miles (630 km). Twenty-four of these weapons were carried aboard the gigantic 13,000-ton, 150-metre (500-foot) Oscar submarines, which entered service in 1980.

Adding a land-attack role to Soviet attack submarines after 1987 was the SS-N-21 Sampson cruise missile, a weapon with a nuclear capability and range similar to those of the U.S. Tomahawk. These were carried by the Akula-class submarines, 7,500-ton, 111.7-metre (366-foot) vessels that continued to enter service with the Russian navy through the 1990s. In 2010 Russia launched its first Yasen-class submarine (called Graney by NATO), which carried the mixed armament of the Akula vessels—antisubmarine and antiship torpedoes and missiles as well as long-range cruise missiles.

The British Swiftsure class (six vessels, commissioned 1974–81) and Trafalgar class (six vessels, commissioned 1983–91) displaced between 4,000 and 4,500 tons at the surface and were about 87 metres (285 feet) long. They were originally armed only with torpedoes and dive-launched Harpoon missiles, consistent with their Cold War role of hunting and killing enemy submarines and surface ships. However, beginning in the 1990s some of them were fitted with Tomahawk cruise missiles, giving them a capability to attack land targets as well. The post-Cold War Astute class (a minimum of four vessels, the first being commissioned in 2010) has been designed from the beginning to carry cruise missiles.

In France the first nuclear attack submarine, the Rubis, was laid down in 1976 with antisubmarine torpedo and sonar systems inherited from the diesel-electric Agosta class. Beginning in 1984, the four vessels of this class were given improved sonar and silencing and were fitted with dive-launched Exocet antiship missiles. The Rubis vessels, the smallest nuclear attack submarines ever put into service, displaced about 2,400 tons at the surface and were about 71 metres (235 feet) long. They were followed in the early 1990s by two similar but slightly larger Amethyste-class submarines. In the late 1990s France brought its submarine posture into the post-Cold War era with plans for the Barracuda class, six submarines displacing some 4,000 tons at the surface and carrying land-attack cruise missiles and advanced electronic surveillance equipment as well as the usual torpedoes and antiship Exocets. Construction of the first Barracuda submarine began in 2007.

China began to plan for a nuclear attack submarine fleet in the 1950s. The first keel of the Type 091 vessel (known as the Han class to NATO), based partly on Soviet designs, was laid down in 1967, and the completed boat was commissioned in 1974. Four more Type 091 boats were commissioned over the next two decades. They were followed by the Type 093 class (NATO designation Shang), the first of which was commissioned in 2006. The Type 093 boats displace some 6,000 tons submerged and are about 110 metres (360 feet) long. Reflecting China’s strategic goal of asserting its presence against other navies in waters adjacent to its coasts, Chinese nuclear attack submarines are mainly torpedo-equipped sub hunters, though they can be fitted with antiship missiles as well.

Click anywhere inside the article to add text or insert superscripts, subscripts, and special characters.
You can also highlight a section and use the tools in this bar to modify existing content:

Add links to related Britannica articles!
You can double-click any word or highlight a word or phrase in the text below and then select an article from the search box.
Or, simply highlight a word or phrase in the article, then enter the article name or term you'd like to link to in the search box below, and select from the list of results.

Note: we do not allow links to external resources in editor.
Please click the Web sites link for this article to add citations for
external Web sites.